“Not allowing to pernicious ways”: Jewish movement and reproduction of intolerance

Abstract

Based on ego-documents (personal and open letters, memoirs), Samizdat (self-published books) and oral history sources, the article examines the Soviet Jewish movement activists’ (“Refuseniks”) attitudes towards their own Others, inner dissidents: Judeo-Christians and so-called </span>noshrim, who used Israeli visas to emigrate to the USA or other Western countries, as well as to the “silent” majority who refused to emigrate, and some other groups. The article describes how they were marginalized and transformed into inner enemies, and discusses probable patterns and reasons for this intolerance in the contexts of Jewish history, sociology of envy, and studies on Soviet personality and collective values. The relevance of the research is defined by its use of sources that have not been used in scientific research before, as well as the choice of topic, which is somewhat painful for its parties, which affects the canonical image of the refusenik movement and therefore is often omitted in the related commemorative and scientific literature. The analysis shows that in this case (and at least in some other cases) the victimization experience does not produce tolerance to the others, as the victims of intolerance are just as intolerant, often adopting their oppressors’ practices and rhetoric, and that the community developing or reconstructing one or another identity naturally tends to build walls and segregate their own dissidents. </p>

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